Having been away for three years on an 'amorous adventure', Lord Brabourne is now sleeping in a converted barn on his historic 6,000 acre estate

The homecoming was nothing like it used to be. At one time, the staff at Broadlands, a vast, historic country house, rich with royal memories, would greet Lord Brabourne in the great, pillared hall, Downton Abbey-style.

This time, having been away for more than three years, he slipped sheepishly through the gates of the 6,000-acre Hampshire estate, where both the Queen and Prince Charles spent part of their honeymoons.

But he did not head for the four towering pillars framing the front door of the Palladian mansion left to him by his grandfather, Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Instead, he made for a converted barn, where his belongings were unloaded from the car.

Lord Brabourne, Prince Philip’s godson and lifelong friend, and cousin of the Prince of Wales, was back after an extraordinary, amorous adventure with an exotic beauty that had taken him to the Bahamas.

Several weeks after this bizarre return, he is still not living in his ancestral and marital home. To put it mildly, things are no longer quite the same since he walked away from his 31-year marriage.

Family friends say it is ‘doubtful’ that Brabourne will be able to effect a rapprochement with his wife Penny — Prince Philip’s carriage-driving companion — whose father began life as a butcher, before making a fortune as the founder of the Angus Steakhouse chain.

Thus far, the formidable Lady Brabourne has given no indication that she is even considering inviting her wayward husband, Norton, to come back and live under the roof of the historic house, far less into her bed.

Understandably, she is an angry wife. Broadlands was left to Brabourne in the expectation that he would devote his life to maintaining an estate of unique historic provenance, where Noel Coward used to play the piano at weekend house parties when the Queen and Philip were staying.

Instead, Penny has been running it — and doing so rather well. In her husband’s absence — making a mockery of the family motto ‘In Honour Bound’ — she even took over his role of High Steward of nearby Romsey, wearing the blue-and-gold robes with style, and carrying out the ceremonial duties with enormous aplomb.

Lady Brabourne (left) has refused to allow her husband back into the marital home after he walked out on their 31-year marriage to be with Jeannie Nuttall (right), a Bahamian fashion designer

She has further stepped into his shoes by becoming patron of Romsey Agricultural And Horse Show Society.

With a touch of poetic justice, it is a rather frail-looking Lord Brabourne who has been seen in recent days, pottering around the estate.

The man who will be the next Earl Mountbatten on the death of his 90-year-old mother, Patricia, told one local: ‘I made a mistake, but I’m back for good — back home.’

That sounds like a man who wants to rebuild his life. This may not be easy. Apart from his wife running the estate — her photograph now adorns the official Broadlands website — his daughter Alexandra, 31, has supplanted him as patron of The Mountbatten School in Romsey.

She has also taken over, while her father was absent, as president of the town’s Scouts — the first woman to have the honour.

It was in 2010 that Lord Brabourne left Broadlands for Nassau, to be with Jeannie Nuttall, a Bahamian fashion designer, whose clothes sell in the enclaves of the rich, such as Rhode Island, in New England, Palm Beach, and St Barts, in the Caribbean.

Just a few weeks earlier, he had cried out ‘Wow’ on seeing a picture she had posted of herself on Facebook.

He had previously met her through her late husband, Sir Nicholas Nuttall, a tax exile whose money came from a family engineering company.

For 66-year-old Norton Knatchbull, the eighth Baron Brabourne, his amorous adventure was also an escape from what he saw as the drudgery of running the Broadlands estate.

‘At first, his new life was idyllic,’ says a family friend, ‘but eventually, it all began to go sour. Frankly, I think Jeannie began to tire of him. She’s got her dress business to run, she’s always busy. He’s a nice bloke with a title, but not very exciting.’

Happier days: Lord and Lady Brabourne at the Ansty Polo Club for the Mountbatten Trophy match in which Prince Charles was playing

Rumours that things were not going well with them began to circulate two years ago. Finally, the couple decided their relationship didn’t have a future, and he crept back to Britain.

In Nassau this week, Lady Nuttall, an attractive widow for seven years, has been concentrating on her successful boutique.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she says, ‘but I don’t feel comfortable at the moment with what has happened.’

The Royals, meanwhile, are glad that Norton has returned to Broadlands, but confused as to what it might mean.

Members of the family, the Queen in particular, are full of admiration for Penny Brabourne and the way she has held things together, insisting that life at Broadlands must go on as normal, despite her husband’s betrayal.

Indeed, in Brabourne’s absence, no private royal event has been complete without an invitation to Penny. Hers is a name automatically added to every Palace guest list.

Over the years, the striking Penny, 60, has also been a decorative carriage-driving companion of Prince Philip, 92.

The two have competed in countless shows across the country.

But her closeness to the Royals initially came through Norton’s friendship with Charles.

‘The Queen and Philip have never forgotten how he helped Charles (a year younger) get through the trials and troubles of Gordonstoun,’ says a family friend.

‘There’s always been a special feeling because of the terrible tragedies that beset his family. But they can’t really forgive him for what he did to Penny.’

'Her husband’s absence made a mockery of the family motto "In Honour Bound"'

There are serious doubts that he will ever again enjoy the level of intimacy he once had with the Royal Family.

Those in the couple’s circle wonder if Penny will weaken and have him back. ‘It’s unlikely, but I doubt if she would ever contemplate divorce, either, because that would mean her leaving Broadlands,’ says a close figure. ‘She will never do that.’

The reason is the presence of a tall stone standing on a plinth, 100 yards from the house, in full view of the drawing room.

That is where the Brabournes’ daughter Leonora, who had kidney cancer and died 23 years ago at the age of five, is buried.

‘Norton was uneasy about putting her grave there, because he feared it would mean they would never get over the death of the little girl they loved so much,’ says a friend.

‘But Penny insisted. She wanted Leonora to be where she could always see her and be with her. So she will never leave Broadlands, never.’

Tragedy has certainly plagued this marriage, at which Norton’s best man was Prince Charles.

The ceremony at Broadlands, and reception for 1,000, had to be postponed for eight weeks after IRA bombers blew up a small boat in the sea off Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, in August, 1979.

It killed Norton’s grandfather, Earl Mountbatten, his 14-year-old younger brother Nicholas, his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, and Paul Maxwell, a local boy who was with the family.

Nicholas’s twin brother Timothy, and his parents, were all injured.

Mountbatten’s murder meant that the newlyweds moved straight into Broadlands. But the tragedies do not end there. Their 32-year-old son, Nicholas (named after Norton’s younger brother), has battled a drug problem.

He spent years on crack cocaine and heroin, living in drug dens and bedsits. Intriguingly, he began to overcome his addictions at around the time his father was flying to Nassau to be with Jeannie Nuttall.

Some family friends feel that the two events are not unconnected. ‘It’s as though something told him his mother needed some moral support,’ says one.

'Members of the family, the Queen in particular, are full of admiration for Penny Brabourne (left) and the way she has held things together, insisting that life at Broadlands must go on as normal, despite her husband¿s betrayal'

Nick, a ‘digital artist’, is understood to have been ‘clean’ for more than three years, and has his own small company making computer-generated videos for the music industry.

He lives in East London and is engaged to a nurse, Raz Tedros, whose family come from Eritrea.

She, of course, will one day be the Countess Mountbatten, when Nicholas succeeds to the title.

Nick is a year older than Prince William and was given the responsibility of showing him the ropes at Eton, though they haven’t stayed close.

Despite Nick’s apparent recovery, it remains unlikely that he will be entrusted with the running of the estate when the time comes.

Mindful of his difficult past, that role has been earmarked for his sister Alexandra, a forensic accountant, who is a rising star in London with a major firm of U.S. business consultants. But will she want to take on Broadlands?

She is in a long-term relationship with Tom Hooper, an entrepreneur who connects specialist maths tutors in India to schools across the UK via Skype.

‘They’re great together and very happy — but Alexandra’s mother is getting rather anxious that they haven’t married yet,’ says a family figure.

Which brings us back to Lady Brabourne’s own marriage.

Since her husband’s reappearance, he has moved from the barn into a converted dairy, closer to the big house. Could that be a sign of things to come? Friends say he shouldn’t hold his breath.

Additional reporting: Jim Norton.

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The love cheat Lord and the wife who still can't forgive: After walking away from a 31-year marriage, Lord Brabourne has been banished to a barn on his 6,000 acre estate